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THE ACCESSIBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES - NEW CHALLENGE AND POSSIBILITIES FOR FITNESS AND RECREATION SERVICES DEVELOPMENT
Diana Reklaitiene, Jurate Pozeriene, Vida Ostaseviciene

ABSTRACT. The current study highlighted questions concerning the accessibility of fitness and recreational facilities that identified as being "accessible" for persons with mobility disabilities in Lithuania. Accessibility was assessed using a modified version of the Accessibility Instruments Measuring Fitness and Recreational Environments (AIMFREE; Rimmer et al., 2004, 2005) In order to receive more precise results semi-structured interviews were conducted with the managers from health, fitness and recreational centers in different Lithuanian cities. 28 informants participated in the study. The study was carried out in 24 private profit organizations and 4 municipality funded non-profit organizations providing Health, fitness and recreational services. The analysis of possibilities to attend the organizations providing recreation and sport services showed that, although the policy and legislation has helped to remove some of the barriers of the environment, sports and recreation facilities are still difficult to access for the disabled. The most important areas that define accessibility of companies providing sports and recreation services are adaptation of physical environment, training facilities, and appropriate competence of the staff. It was found that commercial enterprises providing sports and health services were not accessible for people with disabilities.

KEYWORDS: disability, recreation and sport service, accessibility.

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